Mesa County sales tax collections trend upward

Sales tax collections continue to trend upward in Mesa County, although not for the retail and some other industry categories.

The county collected nearly $4.2 million in sales taxes in August. That was an increase of 1.9 percent over collections for the same month last year.

August collections reflect July sales.

Through the first eight months of 2023, Mesa County collected almost $32.5 million in sales taxes. That’s a 1.8 percent gain over the same span in 2022.

Mesa County collected another $12.3 million through the first eight month of 2023 it distributed back to cities and towns in the county. Grand Junction received nearly $7.2 million, Fruita more than $2.2 million and Palisade almost $1.6 million. Collbran and DeBeque each received $672,310.

The county collected about $2.4 million in taxes on retail sales in August, a drop of two-tenths of a percent from the same month last year. Collections decreased for automotive and home improvements sales, but increased for five other categories. Collections on the sales of general merchandise, the single biggest category, rose 1.3 percent to nearly $700,000.

Sales tax collections totaled almost $1.8 million for other industries in August, a 5 percent increase over August 2022.

Collections increased 27.4 percent on a year-over-year basis in the wholesale category and 7.8 percent in the hotel and restaurant category, but fell 11 percent in the manufacturing category and
20.9 percent in the construction category.

Through the first eight months of 2023,  Mesa County collected nearly $18.9 million in taxes on retail sales. That was a decline of 1.9 percent from the same span in 2022. Collections increased 3.1 percent on the sales of general merchandise, but decreased 4.5 percent for automobiles and 14.4 percent for home improvements.

The county collected a total of more than $13.6 million in sales taxes in other industries during the first eight months of 2023. That was a 7.3 percent gain over the same span in 2022.

Collections increased 12.6 percent in the wholesale category, 7.6 percent in the construction category and 6.2 percent in the hotel and restaurant category. Collections jumped 62.2 percent in the oil and natural gas category.

Use tax collections — nearly all of it from automobiles purchased outside the county, but used in the county — exceeded $361,000 in August. That’s an increase of  9.1 percent over the same month a year ago.

Through the first eight months of 2023, use tax collections totaled nearly $2.9 million, a gain of seven-tenths of a percent over the same span in 2022.